National Hockey League awards

The National Hockey League presents numerous annual awards and trophies to recognize its teams and players. The oldest, and most recognizable, is the Stanley Cup. First awarded in 1893, the Stanley Cup is awarded to the NHL's playoff champion. The Stanley Cup is the third trophy to be used as the league's championship, as for the first nine years of the NHL's existence, it remained a multi-league challenge cup.[1]

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The NHL's first championship trophy was the O'Brien Trophy, which was created by the National Hockey Association in 1910 and was acquired by the NHL in 1918, after which it was awarded to the playoff champion until 1923.[2] The O'Brien Trophy was retired in favour of the Prince of Wales Trophy in 1924, which became the league's championship until the demise of the Western Hockey League following the 1926 season, leaving the Stanley Cup exclusively in the hands of the National Hockey League.

The first individual trophy was the Hart Trophy, first awarded in 1924 to the league's most valuable player. The Lady Byng Trophy followed a year later, awarded to the most gentlemanly player in the league. Two years later, the Vezina Trophy was created for the NHL's top goaltender. The Conn Smythe Trophy was first awarded to the NHL's playoff most valuable player in 1965. Presently, the NHL has 17 annual individual trophies and awards, the most recently created being the Mark Messier Leadership Award, first awarded in 2007.

Awarded by the National Hockey Association (1910-1917) and NHL (1918-1923) to the league playoff champion, Canadian Division regular season champion (1927-1938), and Stanley Cup runner-up (1939-1950)[2]